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News and Observations found at the Wildcraft Forest
Everything is Connected
Water, Forests, Ants and Wild Ginger
By Don Elzer - March 11, 2022
Spring approaches at the Wildcraft Forest and when the snow is gone from forest service roads and ditches we will start to gather plants for transplanting before the road graders destroy them. The reason why we will transplant Wild Ginger to the other side of the road is very important. The plant speaks of itself as a filter, gathering up all the sweetness that flows through the soils that reside in the rainforest.
Here it seeks to populate the place and along with a community of others becomes the groundcover that instills the towering trees with dreams cultivated by the rain. Spreading a vast network of roots she weaves a web that will catch seeping waters and then forms their flow into slow moving catchments that know themselves as a great sponge.
This condition causes the Wild Ginger to spread and grow in the shadows. But her rootstock grows at such a slow pace that messengers are required to move her where she is needed. Ants serve this community well; sheltered by the Wild Gingers leafy over story they move her sweet seeds into areas so that she may form new communities in far away soil freshet’s.
The Ants very purposefully replicate all that was the origin of things so that the great balance can be maintained in the rainforest. All of this has been working in such away for as long as there have been memories in the forest – for as long as there has been water; for as long as there have been great trees and Wild Ginger; and for as long as there have been Ants.
But then the human beings built a road that would separate and create two disturbed forests.
No longer is this a primeval place.
The road is a vast desert to an Ant, and to all beings in the rainforest; it is a lifeless thing that is maintained to remain a lifeless thing. Seeking to recover the disturbed place and restore the primeval forest the small Ants struggle to cross the road with the seeds; they drop them in the desert in hopes of bringing life to this place – but traffic and graders destroy their work.
At the end, the Wild Ginger ceases to be on the other side of the road – the balance in the rainforest is lost – and this imbalance goes largely un-noticed by humans.
This is why we must plant Wild Ginger on the other side of the road. This is why we are wildcrafters.
The photo in this message is of Wild Ginger at the Wildcraft Forest – it serves as a reminder that 68 percent of plants are in danger of going extinct and this process of extinction is largely unknown to us. Plants are localized which means they have a very difficult time migrating to a different location in order to protect themselves. Extinction will be inevitable unless they are either helped to relocate or protected. Humans are not helping when they are needed; in fact plant species are going extinct—about 5,000 times faster than they should. This represents one of the reasons we started the Wildcraft Forest School.
Pine Tree Energy
A direct connection to the human mind
By Don Elzer - March 25, 2022
If you have received or discovered this message, “Pine Tree Energy” has come into your life. As plant spirit medicine the pine is the Tree of Vision, Tree of Nativity and the Tree of Peace.
It has a direct connection to the human mind and our presence and behavior on Earth. Pictured here is the amazing image of young pinecones before they burst to create an atmosphere of pollen that will surround the Earth. This vast emission of pollen is about procreation; it wakes the living Earth with life-force; it does this for humans as well because it seeds our ideas of natural abundance and the connection we have to “everything”.
However, if we are not connected to the natural cycle of things, this pollen will make us feel aggressive, uneasy and impatient – and we will be uncertain as to why? In fact, we may demand more consumption to feed this misguided uneasiness. Not understanding pine in the air, is to fall into patriarchal warrior thinking; while understanding the “natural” life-force of pine envelopes us into the matriarchal or Goddess energy – one of peace and harmony.
As an element of nature, pine medicine coming into your life is about procreation and the renewal of life, it nurtures “composer” energy and combats “decomposer” energy.
Within the human experience it attracts prosperity, and can be a key element for purifying ritual areas, lands and homes. It will strengthen life and renewal during difficult times. A pine walking stick as well as a pine wand or pinecone kept on an altar, will all ward off evil influences and keep your life, mind, intentions and dreams safe.
Pinecones help to increase fertility and will support you in having a vigorous elderhood. Floors washed with pine oil cleanses a space of negativity and will ward off illness. Throw pine needles into a kettle simmering over a fire or stove; or throw pine needles onto a sacred fire and protection will occur as it helps with purification and divination.
Place pine branches over the bed to keep illness and keep decomposers away; or to help with a healing. Hang a pine branch over the main door of your house to ensure continuous joy and positive energy within.
Central to our brain, we carry a “pineal gland” which links together our logical and creative minds. It represents our Third Eye and is an organic receiving and transmitting device that connects us to nature and the cosmos. The power of this gland is immense and it is in the shape of a pinecone just like the ones pictured here.
A pineal gland will crystallize with age quite naturally, however with toxins and a chemical-based lifestyle the gland will crystallize prematurely and it will lead to the depletion of the mind that includes paranoia, psychotic behavior, depression and eventually Alzheimer’s.
Try to strengthen your pineal gland - first of all remove yourself from chemicals, dead food, dead air and dead water. Because the pineal gland is a transmitting and receiving gland that links us to communication with the natural world and biological electricity, you can exercise it by connecting with nature.
Open yourself to this “idea” and try to find a Mother Pine Tree to connect with….you will discover renewal. Meditate with her to help alleviate your dark moods and guilt. You will rediscover the life-force that dwells within your mind…and this will then be felt by your body.
Pine is an antiseptic, expectorant, and tonic. Pine needle tea can aid with healing bladder, urinary tract, and kidney problems. The needles and shoots are rich in Vitamin A and C.
An infusion of the pine needles makes an inhalant for relieving congestion. Use the cones and needles in a bath for breathing disorders, skin complaints, and rheumatic pain. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy for its antiseptic, antiviral, bactericidal, deodorant, and diuretic properties.
Bee one with the pine….become renewed with life-force and peace.
Join us for our learning camps...
“Rewild” is the distance-learning program offered by the Wildcraft Forest School. The Wildcraft Forest is a collection of forests, ecosystems and Yasei Sanctuary Forests, which together provide a stage for this extraordinary school.
HAPPY SOLSTICE AND
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY!
June 21, 2022
By Don Elzer
Imagine olden days when we wandered the edge of the steppes seeking shelter in deep dark forests because we were prey. We darted out into the savannah because the food was richer where the Sun dwelled; however that openness proved dangerous.
Then there was the dark, and without the light of the Moon our lives were gripped with fear. There were predators of the night, bugs and snakes, all them unseen; but we heard and felt them. Nightmares would have no end in the dark because there was no light to comfort us. There was no way to escape the darkness, and we were very cold.
We lived for eons like this, and life was hard and very short, but we managed to stay alive as a species because we understood the ecology that we depended on for survival.
But one day two small children were pounding stones against an old wooden branch in a small grassy area, shadowed by a large boulder. To their surprise they created a spark. It was this spark that would change the human condition forever as it started a very small fire.
It was a chance event that contained just the right amount of chemistry, intelligence and incentive so that it could be defined as an invention. But at the same time so much of it was unexplainable that it could also be defined as some sort of spiritual intervention.
Controlled fire would change everything as it burned through the night keeping us warm and able to keep predators, bugs and snakes away. It would allow us to escape our nightmares and it provided the basis for alchemy and a new diet which would transform us. But more than anything else it would lay the groundwork for our ideas about the cosmos and within that process, the power of stories.
Fire burned and it could kill so it earned respect, and those who knew the mystical character of fire were respected as well. There were those who would become the best storytellers as they interpreted the shadows and the sparks cast by the fire on their way to construct ceremony. Then there were those who knew how to feed and keep the fire; and what substances could be placed on it to fill the space with colour and aroma which would all become the seeds of alchemy.
These two beings would evolve as they evolved tribal life. The storyteller would become the Shaman; and the firekeeper would become the Smith. It is our journey with them that would set the stage for all of our spiritual and scientific escapades through history; and very much defines the world that we live in today.
This wild and ancient relationship presents the roots of our first contact with God.
